A COUPLE OF BLAGUARDS Plays Harris Center, Now thru 4/27

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes, and bestseller Tis, Frank McCourt, and his brother Malachy, also a successful author, joined talents to write an autobiographical account of their years growing up in poverty in Ireland, A Couple of Blaguards. Though times were tough in Limerick, the tales spun by the brothers McCourt simmer with bittersweet recollections, ferocious humor and a parade of colorful characters from the priest who warns of sinners' eyeballs exploding in hell to the McCourt grandmother who spits on Franks unruly Presbyterian hair to tame it.

According to Malachy McCourt, "This show is the result of Frank and me listening to the stories of our elders which in turn tunes the ear, the eye and the tongue to observe and give voice to even the most trivial of events. I think we had more fun than anyone writing and performing Blaguards, which has become an affectionate term for the rowdy, outgoing, and sometimes drinking sort of boys. If you don't have a good evening, you should have yourself checked to make sure you haven't died during the day."

A Couple of Blaguards will perform tonight, April 24, 2014 at 7:30 pm, Friday, April 25, 2014 at 7:30 pm, Saturday, April 26, 2014 at 2 & 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 27, 2014 at 2 & 7 pm. Tickets are priced at $35-$39.Tickets are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. Harris Center is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.

The role of Malachy will be played by Howard Platt, a show business veteran of more than 37 years. As an actor he has appeared in at least 100 plays assuming the roles of everyone from Abraham Lincoln to Santa Claus to Frank McCourt and brother, Malachy. He has made numerous comedic and dramatic appearances on television, most recently as Rev. Weber in What About Joan? He is best known for his roles as Hoppy the Cop on Sandford and Son, Dr. Phil Newman on The Bob Newhart Show, Marvin on Alice and Judge Jonathan Stockfish on Evening Shade with Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning and Marilu Henner. As a series regular he played Captain Doug March on Flying High with Connie Sellecca, Pat Klous and Katherine Witt, Roger Martinson, Esq. on Empire with Patrick McNee, Dennis Dugan, Edward Winter and Michael McGuire and Raymond Peterson on Me, On The Radio? with Sally Struthers. His many movie roles include The Rock, Nixon, The Cat from Outer Space and Norma Jean & Marilyn. Mr. Platt has directed a dozen shows including A Couple Of Blaguards, Don't Dress For Dinner, Pump Boys And Dinettes, Love Letters and Steel Magnolias. Among 20 shows Platt was involved in producing in Chicago with Cullen, Henaghan and Platt, his association with Robert Whitehead during the first Broadway Alliance production, Steve Tesich's Speed Of Darkness, was a theatrical high point.

Frank McCourt will be played by Jarlath Conroy. Conroy was in A Couple of Blaguards at the Triad Theater in New York City. His Broadway credits include: The Seagull ,The Weir, The Iceman Cometh, On The Waterfront, Ghetto, The Visit, Philadelphia Here I Come!, Comedians. Off-Broadway: The Coward, A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center; Our Lady of Sligo, A Life, Pigtown at The Irish Repertory Theater; Gardenia, Translations at Manhattan Theater Club; and The Matchmaker, Playboy of the Western World at The Roundabout Theater. Regional roles include: Max in The Homecoming, Drumm in Hugh Leonard's Da at the Guthrie Theater, Thomas Dunne in Sebastian Barry's The Steward of Christendom (Barrymore Award), Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Uncle Sid in Ah,Wilderness!, Fluther in The Plough and the Stars, Scrooge in A Christmas Carol , Frank in Faith Healer, Fluellen in Henry V (Helen Hayes Award nomination), Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind, Joxer in Juno and the Paycock (Helen Hayes Award). He was in Cromwell and Hamlet at the Royal Court in London. TV and film: Law and Order, NYPD Blues, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, The Beat, Summer, A Marriage: O'Keeffe and Stieglitz, The Elephant Man, Putzel, True Grit, The Art of Getting By, Heaven's Gate" George Romero's Day of the Dead, Kinsey and Stay. His directing credits include True West and Human Resources.

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